Wenger defends Eboue tackle

Monday 22 January 2007 00:12 BST

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has defended the tackle that has left John Terry sidelined for up to six weeks by insisting it was not motivated by revenge.

Terry believes Emmanuel Eboue should have been sent off for a first-half challenge that forced him off with a broken metatarsal in Chelsea's 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium last Sunday. But Wenger insists Terry himself was lucky to still be on the pitch following a cruder lunge on Cesc Fabregas earlier in the match.

"I watched Eboue's tackle again and I don't think he wanted to 'do' John Terry," said Wenger.

He added: "He touched him and I'm really sorry that John was injured. Ideally, Eboue shouldn't have put his foot in there. We do not encourage our players to do that.

"But John Terry should not have been on the pitch at that time because his tackle on Fabregas was the worst of the match.

"I don't think he would have been sent off had he not been England captain. If you start to think like that you become mad.

"But the referee did not see exactly the violence of the tackle. Terry got away with it and good luck to him.

"But that didn't mean we wanted to injure him. I want my players to behave well and we do not want to injure people."